


The Trooper Witch

by MyNameisLennyKeepingReal



Category: Starship Troopers (1997), Starship Troopers: Invasion (2012), Strike Witches
Genre: Gen, Magic Portals, Starship Troopers - Freeform, World Witches - Freeform, strike witches - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 17:28:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30075747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyNameisLennyKeepingReal/pseuds/MyNameisLennyKeepingReal
Summary: Vina Jepsen, a flying witch who was serving in Afrika had been thrust into a completely different world that was different from hers. Her opponents aren't Neuroi anymore, but savage-looking bugs, having a hierarchy and possible intelligence to overwhelm humanity. She finds herself in a much bloodier war, similar to one from home... How would she find her way back, and what scars would she take when she lives in her new life as a trooper?





	The Trooper Witch

A transmission from an audio signal plays, and a recorded message, initially beginning with a voice of a female in her late twenties was speaking, while sounds of gunfire and torturous squealing was heard, followed by men and women screaming. This female was breathing in and out, as if she had been exhausting herself a little while she spoke. “ _This is Colonel Paula Schmitt… recording from a goddamn bunker in Outpost **Werno** , Planet Rize. These bugs really aren’t gonna let up… Warriors breached some electrical fences all because-_” She stopped speaking when some gunfire was heard from the audio getting closer. “Damn it! Send a banger through the windows!” Paula cursed and barked orders before more gunshots, presumably from a sidearm, were heard as footsteps were evident in the recording, suggesting she was running. “ _Bugs have overrun Werno’s defense grid and are now surrounding the Command Bunker! Communication isn’t possible, and we’re dead in the water without a supporting fleet to back us up in the same sector!_ ”

More audio was heard and minutes have passed before she stopped running, with gunfire now distant from where she was. She panted as she spoke. “ _These bugs are getting a lot smarter… All those events that played from the Brain Bug’s capture from Planet P right to a Bug Queen controlling a bunch of these bugs just tells me a lot about this attack. They’re here for her. They want power and they want the best for it, and somehow… they knew, thanks to a crashed transport full of military scientists. Intelligence is gonna grill me for this. I hope it’s not too late. I’m on my way to the elevator. I hope she’s okay._ ”

About 10 minutes had passed and sounds evident to walking and light jogging were heard all throughout the audio clip while sounds of a functioning elevator were evident. A man then spoke to Paula as she was walking, hearing alert sirens ringing in a hallway and other connected ones. “ _Colonel, she’s not ready. Even if we try to send her like this, she’s not completely combat-capable. She can handle exactly the tasks given, but fighting these bugs will completely change her mental stability factor._ ”

Paula replied. “ _All I care is that she’s able to hold a rifle, fire, and survive. If she’s indeed who she says she is, she stands a way better chance of defending herself next from a bug attack like this._ ”

“ _If that’s the case, we better pull out soon. I’ll tell Ramsey to gear up. We need to be out in ten minutes._ ” The man replied this as he walked off of Paula’s presence.

It was minutes later when Paula had reached an almost quiet room. Sounds of a sliding door were heard before she spoke up. “ _Vina Jepsen?_ ”

“ _Y-yeah?_ ” A girl in her early twenties responded to Paula. This was Vina, who seemed only half confident in her resposnse while she spoke more. “ _What’s going on?_ ”

“ _You already know. While Outpost Werno is a high-tech facility, these bugs could still get into the minds of people. Such is their nature. But we gotta go. Grab your rifle and-_ ” Paula was cut off by Vina after the younger one gasped.

“ _LOOK OUT!_ ” A hostile squeal was heard in the background and some rubble collapsed onto Paula, hurting her while also cutting off the sounds from the recording.

The recording was halted since there was nothing else to hear. That time, Vina closed her eyes, looked down and reminded herself that her hands and feet were clamped together by restraining cuffs, made of some sort of steel metal that ordinary men couldn’t break out of. She opened her eyes again, still having knowledge that she was looking up at three judges sitting behind their benches observing her closely. It was mostly dark, but she had a single light source above her. She looked at these male judges in their mid-40’s with hostility.

Vina spoke up to these judges. “So you don’t wanna understand that I tried to save Colonel Schmitt from death. I wasn’t restrained against my will. They tried to protect me from something I once feared. Then… When I realized I could actually fight after I saw her die, I had to start squeezing that trigger and kill my first warrior bug.” She chuckled, then looked down at her cuffs. “I could just as much free myself if I wished, but then you’d shoot me.”

The judge in the center snorted. “We were shown enough data to know what you’re capable of, but be our guest.”

And Vina wasn’t expecting that. If these humans were really going to let her do it, then they must have something up their sleeve. Or… They might just be stupid. This made her smile, and a blue glow started to grow out from her hands, while she snickered at the judges. She was attempting to break the cuffs with her own strength. And in only a few seconds, cracks were made and the cuffs were broken into two. The three judges gasped in hushed tones while they muttered to each other. They looked at Vina’s appearance closely.

Vina had auburn-colored hair with a length up to her shoulders and untied. Her light brown eyes were evident as the judges observed her more. She had that height of 5 feet and 11 inches, and had a body build that was fit but thin.

She tilted her head and chuckled. “Is there more you want me to do?”

The judge from the left of the benches spoke. “That is all anyone COULD do, Miss Jepsen. We know you’re not from around here, so let us remind you. In this reality that we know of now, democracy in its beginnings have actually failed, and a step-up had to be made, so extreme prejudice could be applied and we could expand our territories, AND our understanding of the universe as a whole. In the legal system, usually the Sky Marshal has the say on how justice prevails over all. But the law still applies to anyone who is under it. But… How does it apply to you, an off-worlder?”

Another judge from the right side of the benches spoke. “It’s simply that you’re an outside variable and truly have no purpose, just yet.”

Vina noticed that the judge who spoke paused from his speech and spoke a single word. “But?”

“You could also just survive under five minutes if deemed not useful by the Terran Federation,” that judge concluded then spoke again in another matter. “That remains to be seen.”

She chuckled quietly at first, amused by how the judges see the likes of her, someone who isn’t from the same reality as they are. Then she laughed boisterously, and it was the only time she had done so under a very tense situation that may involve her death. What was more is… the judges let her laugh. This means there was more to what they want from her than what meets the surface. And it’s exactly what she’s aiming for.

It took a minute or so until she stopped laughing and spoke up in reply. “You can go right to hell.” And she said that in a smile while putting her hands behind her back. “Because I’m not going to do any damn well with anyone in the Terran Federation, law-abiding or not. To tell you the truth… I’m not even proud of what I am, even if I stayed in my own world, really.”

The judge from the right spoke in reply. “So you have no self-worth. That’s even worse than being just an off-worlder.”

“What can you expect from someone whose only purpose is to die?” Vina replied this coldly at the judges. “We all die, one way or another and that’s the very thing I’m accepting.” She paused for a few seconds and sighed before speaking again. “Just get over with what you want to do to me.”

The judges looked at each other and they seemed to mutter after some surprise from Vina. Then, they hushed themselves while the judge in the center of the benches spoke to her. “There was a request for us to attempt in trying an unorthodox approach, Jepsen. And… as for your reply to your statement for us to go to hell…”

Vina didn’t expect this from the judges and had a slight spike of fear from her. “ _What’s going on,_ ” she thought to herself.

“…When you meet your maker, tell us how that conversation goes.” that judge concluded.

And an anti-armor rifle’s shot was heard from Vina’s right side. What she didn’t expect was that her world went blank almost immediately.

The whole time, that rifle may have been so close to her head without her knowing.

Then she opened her eyes, and sat up suddenly, screaming at daylight shining through a nearby window while she sat on a couch. She was once lying beneath a blanket, and it was thrown off as she woke up and sat in her surprise. Cursing under a hushed tone, she realized what had happened. She was killed, and she didn’t even sense it coming.

Vina also noticed something else. She looked to see where she was… and she was inside this elegant office room. She saw the logo of the Terran Federation above the window of the main view. And… Why was she sitting on a couch when she should have at least been inside some sort of coffin or under the ground instead?

A man who was standing and taking coffee in front of his desk in the same room was looking out the window of the main view, unfazed by Vina’s scream at all. He turned, exposing his dark-painted hair and his age of being in his forties while being in a high-ranking official’s uniform. He smiled as she looked at him with confusion. “Let’s stop with the pleasantries and get straight to it. You’re undying, and we not only captured that while you’re in Werno, but you’ve apparently been able to do that regularly. Your psychology already made us believe you’d died more than once… not just in this world, but in your own.”

Vina sighed, aware of who she’s actually talking to. “Carl Jenkins. So you’re-”

“…grateful,” Carl replied in interruption and continued. “It’s been a few days, specifically four of those days. I haven’t gone into the fact that I’ve been studying you ever since Major Schmitt made that report a few weeks ago. A magic user in this world and beyond? Of course it’s beyond religion, because magic is one dimension of science that is on another level of understanding.”

“Great.” Vina replied this as she completely removed the blanket and noticed her full nudity is showing at Carl. She didn’t care and spoke to him regardless with a cold tone. “So now I got no clothes and you’ve treated me like a guinea pig. I can’t wait to even see what’s next.”

Carl puts his coffee mug down on the desk and replied to her. “Aren’t you so cold even in the face of an opportunity? You’ve already accepted that you’re living in our terms, so why not start off by being a citizen? Outpost Werno, now gone, served as your first home here, but you can make it better for yourself by actually seeing the world now as it is. You’ve only been given Planet Rize, but now you have Earth this time. And… you have a chance to contribute… either as a research subject or as… someone more in your own terms.”

Vina looked away knowing this could be a chance for her to start fresh. Closing her eyes, she hears screams of men and women and children from Planet Rize like it was yesterday. Those deaths were only possible because these bugs wanted her magic. Opening her eyes, she looks at Carl while standing up and approaching him, not caring about her nudity being shown to him. “I want you to give me all you can about these bugs first… AND you can also study my striker unit more extensively. Knowing how the Terran Federation has expanded, I’d say you have more than enough knowledge to make the best technology possible.”

Carl chuckled. “There’s more, is there?”

She nods, and her eyes turn yellow and were patterned after a dragon’s eyes. “I want the best training possible to break me, kill me… and put me on top over everyone else. Because I won’t stick to being a rookie any longer.”

Carl opened his mouth in silence but closed them again, knowing Vina has more than one death wish. “Careful what you wish for. Even if it’s for citizenship, you’d still be of use to us.”

“Like I said. I want to be on top.” Vina’s dragon eyes faded and she smiled. “So use me as you please while I achieve my goals, Sky Marshal.”

“On one condition.” Carl replied this and was straight in his words and gestures to her. “If you’re willing to sell your soul, you may as well toughen it up instead and keep it. You won’t get anywhere repeatedly dying and becoming immobile for a time. This war against the bugs won’t be over for a long while even after Mars. There’s more than one planet that controls bugs in a hive-mind in the same galaxy, and we’re still standing here refusing to die out as a species. You’re human, just like us. If you keep your integrity within your reach, there’s more than enough room for everyone else to follow in your footsteps. That is… if you prefer to have a cult following you.”

“I like it,” Vina chuckled. “My kill count in Werno, is just the beginning.”

“Remind me. 42 while on foot?”

“Over 70, actually. I don’t know how your surveillance works, but that’s my count before reinforcements came in and arrested me.” Vina replied and went to her blanket to grab it and wrap it around her nudity. “This is nice… actually. I never thought I’d get recognized only because I’m a witch. It’s a great feeling.”

“Is another story for how things work in your world a good time to tell right now?”

Vina shook her head after Carl asked her that question. “I’d rather keep you in the dark for now. I didn’t make these promises of bringing glory to the Federation for nothing, after all.” She had another question in mind. “Tell me… How strong is magic around here? It also helps me in my development of independent release.”

“I don’t have specifics, but magic isn’t commonplace, though-” Carl went on to explain some facts about Earth.

It seems that Earth in this reality had been amplified to an extent that even values and attitudes have changed. Ever since civilian governments were being overridden by its military, magic research had begun as a new territory of research, even if it was just a dead subject. Magic isn’t common, as Carl said to Vina. BUT, it isn’t dormant. Earth itself still keeps its own amount of magic after the dark times when it was eventually replaced with alchemy and metallurgy and methodologies to general development. Magic, as a commonplace factor for development had been mostly forgotten by the population, but still stayed inherently in Earth to help in the population’s development. So why was it generally ignored?

Vina was finally dressed up in her new clothing… a Mobile Infantry undergarment described as grey and black themed tight coveralls. It had the Mobile Infantry logos as patches on her shoulders. After listening to Carl, she made a reply. “So apparently, magic isn’t a part of the population’s development. Instead, it only becomes a secondary tool to speed things along.”

Carl nods and speaks up. “Dead-end researches don’t always go in the spotlight, but I give some ample time for some lost hope. This, as a tool, could be useful to the Terran Federation, but the evidence isn’t substantial enough to make it commonplace or be an effective weapon against the bugs.”

“…until I arrived.” Vina said it with confidence. “I may not be the tool to advance that research completely, but I wanna give it some progress from time to time. The creation of the striker unit in my world really involved magic ideals. Magic usage however is another thing entirely.”

Carl nods and listen to Vina as she spoke, and replied after she had finished. “Jepsen, this is what’s going to happen. You’ll start off as a Private in Mobile Infantry. As you gain kills in offensive operations, your rank will be considered during your career, but as well as your service. Remember… We can re-utilize your damaged striker unit only if the magic research is in full swing. So without your time in magic research, it’ll slow down considerably. Do what you can to keep our scientists informed in communications you’re allowed to conduct. Remember that the Federation is still far off from galactic peace until the war against these bugs and over and done with. I might not even be Sky Marshal for too long while this research is moving. Do we understand each other?”

“Yes, sir.” Vina replied with ease before being given a tactical pad by Carl. “What’s this?”

Carl explained patiently. “Get used to it. Tactical pads give you data, but it’s up to you what to do with it. It contains a map, a tactical readout of weapons and equipment you’re allowed to hold, but as well as the usual schedules. Look around this base if you must, because this is the last time you’ll see it in a long while. After you’re finished with your self-tour, report to Transport Four for immediate departure to Mars. It’s still rehabilitating after the incident that occurred there.”

“Can I get the short story, sir?”

“The last Sky Marshal wanted to rid the planet of its actual population, so she pulled the fleet away from Mars, let a bug nest grow and attack the planet, then planted a bomb that would destroy Mars for good… all because of public ratings on television. That is idiocy in its finest and a common plot of villainy. That’s no value of the Federation’s Sky Marshal, so she was eventually replaced.” Carl explained this with a straight face.

And this tells Vina that Carl wasn’t even feeling anything as he told the story. “Something tells me you had something to do with it.”

“Yes. Yes I have.” Carl snickered at Vina before continuing. “The public must have loved that scandal when it came out through all of the Federal Network broadcasts. Snapp couldn’t avoid the media for so long and she was tired and frustrated. She gave in to the actual questioning of Federal Prosecution months later, and I as acting Sky Marshal, took that position permanently. It was also thanks to my two friends too. One’s a captain in the Terran Fleet and the other is in the Mobile Infantry. I’ll never forget it and I still have to repay that.” He cleared his throat and changed the subject. “Right, Private. You have your tactical pad in your possession, so use it as you will. Report to Transport Four when you’re ready to leave. I prefer two hours if you like to take a look around. Is that understood?”

Vina stood straight and saluted Carl. “Yes, sir.”

“Take care of yourself, Vina.” Carl then approached her as she put her hand down from her salute but kept herself standing straight. Emotionless as Vina was showing, she realized that Carl was getting his lips close to her cheek until he actually kisses that cheek. She slightly blushed at that and smiled a little. “You’re dismissed,” Carl whispered this to Vina before he turned to his desk.

Then Vina made a short but sweet reply to him. “Sir… Thank you… for that, and for giving me this chance.” She said that, which made him stop what he’s doing for a while. “I won’t forget it.”

Carl chuckled at that. “It isn’t me you need to thank, Private. This world isn’t kind to those with different ideals now that almost everyone agrees to the Terran Federation’s goals. While you have a completely different ideology from when you first arrived, you need to be given a chance to see what we have to offer to you. That’s why you have a chance here. I just gave you the keys to citizenship. That’s all.” He looked back at Vina before he spoke more. “Don’t waste it, Private. Is that all?”

“Sir.” Vina made that short reply before saluting Carl again. He nodded and she was signaled to leave, which she immediately did.

Carl was alone again in that lonely office, but that’s how he somehow liked it. Now that there was an off-worlder who wanted all that the Terran Federation had to offer, how far would she be able to take herself?

About months later, Vina was participating in a raid against an anti-government militia group, wearing a medium infantry attire, with her arms and her face exposed while she wore a helmet on her head and body armor covering her chest and back. Two squads breached one of several compounds in Pikes Metropolitan City, Planet Rize. When police couldn’t do anything because of the hardware for intelligence and weaponry this militia group had possessed, the Mobile Infantry was called to step in to prevent any further civilian casualties. Vina was in one of the two squadrons, with her squad named Team Bingo. Vina’s usual role in the squad is demolitions, and she was good at it.

It was a fine morning for M.I. to find and eliminate the anti-government militia until the group decided to retaliate, even launching a rocket into a small crowd to show to others the government isn’t to be trusted. The militia’s numbers are dwindling as they were being hunted down however. The job went smoothly as the militia nests were found and destroyed.

It was then that when Vina had planted a charge on the last cleared MG-nest that the militia owned that she heard a noise of a vehicle being driven out of the compound… a battle tank. This militia group had a battle tank and it started to open fire on her squad. But before she ran out to help them, she was stopped by one of the heavily wounded men from the militia group, holding her ankle and trying to speak to her.

Vina snorted and aimed her rifle at him. “You should have picked the right side for this.” Then she revealed her yellow dragon eyes to him and put her rifle away, before removing a glove from her right hand and growing scale-like claws from her nails while bending down and stabbing his torso with them, making him bleed more and groan in pain. “I think this is just right for you.” Emotionless in her speech, she pulls out the man’s guts, finishing him off as he bled out before dying immediately.

Her earpiece radio crackled to life starting with a voice from a familiar female. “ _Jepsen, we got a situation here! We’re out of rockets. If you got spare charges… we need them! Over._ ”

Vina had already retracted her claws from her hand before wiping the blood on her pants while she wore her gloves again while her dragon eyes faded from her. She then replied after hearing the radio. “Copy that. I got about two charges unused. Did I miss something? What are we dealing with here? Over.”

“ _You must be deaf if you didn’t hear the goddamn battle tank, Private! Get up here!!_ ” The female’s voice was accompanied by gunfire and a single explosion. “ _You’re closest to their armory! Bingo’s tied down and there’s no response from Razor Team! I need you to-_ ” The female was heard screaming and groaning after an evident hit from all the gunfire.

Vina started running while holding her rifle. She spoke while doing so. “Captain? Captain! I’m on my way! Do you read?!” She kept running when the captain couldn’t respond and she radioed someone else in. “Team Bingo, this is Jepsen! What’s happened to the Captain?! Over.”

A man in his twenties responded on the radio instead. “ _Jepsen, it’s Sergeant Fango. Captain Wells is KIA. We’re pulling back to Line Bravo. These militia goons are crawling. Our intel’s a bust! What the hell are these guys from Intelligence doing?! Fizz, what about Razor Team?!_ ”

“ _No response,_ ” replied a hardened female who was right beside some gunfire so it was assumed she was firing her weapon. “ _If they’re not even back at camp, then we gotta assume they’re actually combat ineffective._ ”

Vina arrives at the compound armory and she saw the battle tank that was just facing her from the rear. She takes cover and sees the tank firing at some retreating troopers. She even saw two of those troopers blasted out of their cover. Then Vina saw the militia troops right behind the tank. She took aim with her rifle while still not detected by any of them but she had something else in mind and used the radio. “Sarge… Got a plan, but you gotta trust me on this. I’m much closer to the armory, and the Cap just ordered me to get to the armory.”

“ _Private, just regroup! Forget it!_ ”

“NO!” Vina lowers her rifle and removes her gloves before growing her claws from her hands. Holding the rifle with one hand and showing her yellow dragon eyes before activating her magic, she speaks further. “Captain Wells knows something about me you don’t still know, Sergeant. While you can pull rank right now, I’m gonna speak logic this time. Reinforcements are coming up from behind that tank. You’re out of anti-tank rounds, but I need you to hold your ground. I’ll take care of them from behind. Keep them distracted long enough and I’ll also be able to board that goddamn tank.”

Sergeant Fango didn’t like insubordination but he had to listen. One thing he’s known about her is that she’s dedicated to her rank but somehow smarter than the others in terms of common strategy, and easily caught the attention of Captain Wells. The Captain even listened to Vina’s story about her origins. Even if Fango didn’t completely know about the conversation, he trusts his superior about her feelings about every member of her own squad.

And Fango had an idea of how Wells treated Vina. He then made a reply. “ _Say we try your tactic. They’ll chew you up as soon as you start firing. You’d die a meaningless death, Private._ ”

“Far from it, Sarge. I’m not normal, after all. Call me what you want, but I won’t suffer any more casualties.” Vina snickered as she replied before she aimed her rifle with one arm and opened fire, letting rounds fly from her automatic weapon. The rounds were able to make holes in one of the militiamen before she moved her rifle, and killed another. As soon as the militiamen realized where the rounds came from, she already jumped forward, abnormally farther than how a human jumps before she was seen slashing one of them with her clawed hands. She opened fire again in close range, killing three more in close range. Her magic shield was working overtime, deflecting every bullet coming at her while she remained resilient, letting blood spray on her as she killed her enemies one by one.

Sergeant Fango was seeing this from a reconnaissance drone that was deployed in the air while it was broadcasting through his wrist-screen. “What the hell is she?”

Corporal Fizz Pines was in cover and almost got hit by an anti-infantry round fired from the tank. She noticed something. The battle tank stopped firing at her. She aimed her rifle and was partially putting her head out to see what was happening. The turret was turning around. “Shit… Sarge, it’s working! That tank is turning back!”

Sergeant Fango knew there were only five of them left including Vina herself. “Damn. If we can’t find the long-range jammer, then there’s only one place for it. It’s in the tank. They took it in with them.” He then used the squad radio to contact Vina. “Private! The long-range jammer’s in the tank! It’s turning its turret to you now! Look out!”

Vina slashed one militiaman violently, ripping him into half while she growls. And running on empty, she drops her rifle and takes a look at the tank now with its turret facing her. It fires its main cannon before she jumps high, with the round barely missing her, and glides her body toward the tank. The mounted machinegun fires at her and she used her magic shield to deflect every fast round coming at her. “YOU’RE GONNA DIE, REBEL!!” She spread her arms wide and spread her claws out before growing them longer in an attempt to pierce the battle tank’s armor. She lands next to the mounted machine gun while engraving her feet after the landing impact on the turret. Slashing away the mounted machine gun and severing its control from the gunner on the inside, she stabs the hatch leading to the tank’s interior. She then pulled, groaning as she pulled with all her strength before using her magic to amplify it. The hatch cracks from the sides before seconds later, she pulled the hatch and threw it off the tank. A shot rang out from inside the tank and her arm was grazed with a bullet. She growls and thrusts her hand into the hatchway she sensed she stabbed someone with her claws, before pulling the man out of there and throwing him up high and out. He landed on the ground, breaking his neck in the fall and spraying his blood on the pavement. She quickly pulled another man out and threw him out, letting him roll off the tank and land on his back.

Sergeant Fango saw this man about to escape, so he had his rifle aimed at him while Fizz and the other two troopers surrounded the remaining target. Fango then made a statement to the man who still lived. “Well, Mister Preeve. Seems you got a problem with authority here.”

Preeve smiled at Fango and attempted to spit at him, but the saliva drop only reached up to the sergeant’s armor. He made a mocking tone as he spoke. “No shit, Federation. Copperhand Org will continue to fight the good fight and bring down goons like you following warmongers. There’s no war. These bugs don’t do sh- AHHHH!!!”

Fizz stomps at Preeve’s hand and he screams in pain while she puts the barrel of her rifle right at his forehead. “Tell that to my dead brother killed by one of them, you elitist psychopath.”

“Stand down, Corporal!” Fango ordered this at Corporal Fizz before he looked towards the tank. “Private! You found that Jammer?!” As soon as he asked, he heard some wires being taken apart from inside the tank.

Vina jumps out from inside the hatchway and lands next to her squadmates before removing her helmet. She presented a device with wires cut on it. “This was connected right to the tank’s main computer. I had to cut it out, Sarge.”

“Good work.” Fango gave Vina that remark before he used his radio. “Bingo Team to Firefly Actual. We’re clear. We got Preeve and we’re bugging out.”

A man replied from the other line. “ _Acknowledged, Bingo Team. Be advised… All members of Razor are KIA. We’re just seeing the overhead view right now and it’s pretty bad._ ”

Just as Fizz was seeing Preeve being restrained by hand cuffs, she looked at Vina’s hands. “Private Jepsen… Damn… Some scales and claws you got there. Sure you’re not a bug?”

Vina chuckled before her dragon eyes faded and her claws retracted back into her hands. Her scales faded right as she hid her dragon attributes. “Yup. Otherwise, why wouldn’t I survive a bug attack at all?” She said that coldly, only looking at Preeve being restrained.

“Oh… I don’t know.” Fizz puts a knife point onto Vina’s neck. “Maybe a brain bug put a plant in you. We know they could do that and they could even kill their own just to achieve a bigger goal.”

“Bitch please.” Vina glared at Fizz, not caring her if the knife was scraping her skin a little. “If you’re suspecting me just get on with it. We all die eventually.”

Fango groaned and gently pulled Fizz’s knife away from Vina’s neck before he spoke. “Corporal, no need for that. This trooper saved our lives today. We got extraction incoming. We’re lifting off at five.” He ordered that at both of them, and Fizz and Jepsen kept glaring at each other. “Fizz, Jepsen… both of you. Stand down!”

Fizz whispered to Vina. “I don’t care what you are, Private. You fall in line, and you stay in line.”

Vina snickered at Fizz as she spoke. “Fine with me. No thank you?”

“I can take care of myself.” Fizz holsters her knife and walks off of Vina’s face.

Vina only sighed to herself before she retrieved her assault rifle. She inspected it and it was already empty. “I really need to conserve ammo.” She told that to herself before she heard a retrieval boat fly into their area. Soon, she heard police sirens signaling that they’ll take control of the situation here in the compound. Only imagining that things would be different now that her squadmates know what she could do, who knows what kind of trouble she could get into?

It isn’t every time that when the war would turn into the favor of humanity against the Neuroi that there would actually be a time for any witch to get into deep thought, especially if their thoughts were about just a witch who they lost in this world so much, though not in death.

Hanna knew that all too well. Even she was boggled with that witch’s disappearance.

After pulling some strings by the end of her mandate in Afrika and another operation she participated in, she had already decided to head towards Venezia for quite an important meeting with someone. And no, this isn’t a meeting with a military official. This is a meeting with an old, but still legendary witch who fought the Neuroi, though different in form, before the First Great War had begun. She pulled out a journal of what was written when she was flying in a transport plane in silence and she had to understand it since this witch won’t easily be so entertaining when asked any questions about a specific type of magic, or phenomenon for that matter.

And observing Hanna was one other witch with her from the same unit, the 31st Joint Fighter Squadron Afrika. Raisa Pöttgen comes over to sit beside Hanna somehow quietly to check on what was read at that journal. Raisa raised an eyebrow and thought that this was out of character from Hanna. “ _I don’t mind if she reads some information before seeing someone, but she doesn’t need to be so formal,_ ” she thought.

“If you wanna say something,” Hanna said as she lowered her journal and looked at Raisa with a smile before continuing to speak. “You could tell me what’s wrong.”

Raisa couldn’t say anything at first to the fellow blonde, but then she realized Hanna wanted what was in her mind. “Are you sure you want to hear it from me?”

Hanna closed the journal and nodded. “It’s not an order anyway.”

“Now that you emphasized that…” Raisa said it before she sighed. “What is going on with you? Usually, the laid-back attitude is more apparent, but you started to request for information about a specific witch we’re not even affiliated with. I mean… Venezia? I can understand I would go on without intel, but it’s rather important to me, just to see what you’re really going to do.”

“And?” Hanna lost her smile and looked at Raisa seriously. “What are you saying?”

“It’s not a bad thing, but you’re out of your character. Suddenly, you’re interested in a witch past her prime.” Raisa said this, concerned with how Hanna was acting when the information gathering had first started before they departed for Venezia.

And Hanna couldn’t choose to hide it from Raisa any longer. She decided to speak out, briefly looking away from Raisa, then looked back at the fellow witch. “Vina Jepsen… our latest recruit to the 31st. Maybe if you remember, she was lost in a reconnaissance mission, together with her striker unit.”

“Hold on… That’s the abnormal phenomenon of disappearances in the world, right? That’s just stuff of myths, Hanna.”

“Myths still tell stories, Raisa.” Hanna replied while putting her arms behind her head before leaning her head against the metallic wall of the plane that was slightly shaking. She looked up to express what she knows. “Once every three years, anyone could disappear and never be found. Based on evidence, it’s all random, but scientists were able to at least research the possibility of it being linked to a natural magic occurrence.”

“So it can be controlled?” Raisa asked this and immediately got her answer.

“No.” Hanna made a reply, suppressing the urge to sigh and breathed out through her nose. “I’m boggled in this. What am I saying?” She finally sighed and sat in a slump, putting her arms on her knees and had her hands cover her face. “Damn it… I’m just going on a damn whim… I’m not the luckiest in guessing just as well as getting Neuroi in my bullet path, but I only have my gut, Raisa. Magic can still be closely linked the disappearance of one of our own and this…” Hanna stops speaking and leans her back to the seat rest and looked at Raisa. “It has to add up somehow. Otherwise, it’s just another wasted adventure. I don’t mind that, but I like it when all of us witches come back from any mission alive and well.”

Raisa was surprised of this. This was a different output from Hanna than how she really anticipated this and smiled while looking away. “I don’t know what Keiko would say about it but-”

“That’s why you won’t tell Keiko about this.” Hanna said those words, which made Raisa look at her glare. “That’s why you won’t tell anyone.”

“Hanna… Did you try letting this go?”

“Nope. This is exactly why I didn’t tell you in the first place. You’d talk me out of doing something crazy, and here we are.” Hanna chuckled at this before hearing a report from the pilot that they were approaching the target. “Oh? Remind me again where?”

“Ma’am, there’s a small island near Ancona. Is that the place?” The pilot asked while looking at Hanna from the cockpit.

“That’s the one!” Hanna stood up from her seat. “And make sure you land this plane safely at the airbase! I’m counting on you! Raisa and I have our units here. Begin the descent!”

“Understood!” The pilot replied this and focused on his flying.

Raisa stood up next to Hanna. “Wait, what are you gonna do?!” As she asked, she felt the plane start to lose altitude, and it was on purpose. “Um… Hanna? What are you doing?”

Hanna snickered at Raisa before she went to the rear of the plane and opened the door as soon as the plane started to level out at 300 meters above sea level. “What do you think?” She then slightly glowed in magic while her eagle familiar features were brought out from her head and lower body. “Hey, if you ask me, this is the nicest way to actually get to the point. Give me 2 hours with her and it’ll be the peachiest of conversations in this side of the world.”

“Since when did talking to old-timer witches about complex magic subjects become a peachy conversation?!” Raisa asked this, but only saw Hanna do a two-finger salute before jumping out of the plane without a parachute. “Of course, you did that…” Raisa said that to herself before she closed the door, before eventually feeling the plane climb slowly back up. She muttered to herself in her worry in Hanna’s actions. “Be careful, Hanna. If Ferrara is what they say she really is, then she’ll grill you before you get any concrete answers from her.”

An old woman in that lone island near Ancona noticed the plane that was slowly climbing in attitude as the day was ending. The sky was blue and the sun was setting that late afternoon falling into night. She groaned in annoyance, not even getting a decent type of silence at these days. Still, with the Berlin recapture operation ongoing, logistics and transportation have to go on anyway. She swept the front of her house from leaves that were being flown in regularly by the wind with her broom and sighed to herself. She was glad things didn’t change much at her home, but she remembered there was a time a bridge almost got destroyed, but was saved by three witches from the 501st who learned so much from her. Thanks to that, her retirement time with family bonding from Romagna seemed to be getting much better.

She however sensed something was off, and her familiar features, to those of cat, came out from her head and lower body. “Well this is interesting.”

Hanna didn’t fear the heights as she was gliding down to the island. Her mind was blank as she was approaching the patch of green and tilted her body forward to have her land on her feet, while the force had her bend on her knees as the damage was taken by her magic. She stood up straight and smiled before she retracted her familiar into her body, adjusting her blonde hair as she observed the only house in that island. “So… This is it.”

“ _It is._ ” The old woman’s voice could be heard from above as she was sitting on a broom while floating in mid-air looking down at the witch who was visiting her island. “Far enough, young-un. Maybe it’s best you start explaining yourself before I begin to rain hell on you.”

Hanna raised an eyebrow noticing the old woman was riding a broom. She heard the stories and the possibilities, but she didn’t ride a broom before. But this was more than just ability. It was some of the retained power this woman had. There’s no doubt of who she is. “Anna Ferrara?”

“Who’s asking?” Anna spoke calmly furrowed her brows in some rage from above the witch on the ground.

“Oh… just the Star of Africa… not that you’ve known since you’ve been out of action for a while.” Hanna smiled and shrugged. “Or forever.”

“Hey!” Anna spoke, enraged. “I may be old but I’m not without my reputation! Just leave. Now.”

“Anna, I’m not here you to harm you.” Hanna spoke a serious tone and raised her hands in front of her. “If I did, I would have shot you, but I came here unarmed.”

Anna groaned, believing the young witch. She floated down at the blonde and went closer. “Then you’re a fool. The Neuroi aren’t truly gone and you come here unprepared. You must be either a fool, or you’re actually here for all the wrong reasons.”

“Wrong reasons or not, it involves a disappearance, and I thought I’d go to you because you may have experienced it yourself.” Hanna said that and explained herself while reaching her hand out to Anna. “Hanna-Justina Marseille. And I like it or not, I wanna talk about one of my own in a unit who’s actually disappeared and never found anywhere else.” She waited for a reply, and didn’t get any. She didn’t even see Anna reach Hanna’s hand. And so Hanna pulled her hand back and continued. “Magic may have been the cause of it. If it was a technology of Neuroi, we’d have known easier, but this was too close for a call.”

Anna snorted. “You got me interested, since you told me that you’ve known someone who disappeared in MY life. If you’re wrong, I won’t trust you. Is that understood? Reveal it to me in the house because I’ll be waiting for you. It better not be a waste of time.”

Hanna saw Anna float away while gliding onto the nearby house. “ _So this is Anna Ferrara? Amazing she even has magic in her age._ ” She thought of this as she walked to the home.

It was about an hour later. Anna was seated in front of a table drinking tea and Hanna was quietly sipping from her cup drinking the same thing. Anna groaned and spoke. “Two decades ago, I didn’t think my daughter would disappear out of nowhere. When I first realized that magic had something to do with it, then it’s something apparent in this Earth’s magic energy. But how it had suddenly spiked at a place where there’s no legacy of magic users at all, it was apparent to me that magic had also done this. I never found my daughter ever since, nor have I been able to produce results of ways I could retrieve my daughter from another world I didn’t know. Not only was it stressful, but even the witch that I am was limited. I asked everywhere, to check where my daughter could have gone, but there wasn’t anything on her everywhere. I thought I shouldn’t give in, but I know that I should not myself away as I keep remembering and applying the past to me. And so… I had to move on.” Anna lowered her head. “It was painful at first, but I know that life has to have something else for me to forget it all. And miraculously it did. My family had expanded and I have grandchildren visiting here from time to time. But even with all the happiness, I couldn’t forget the ones who disappeared, my daughter included.”

Hanna raised an eyebrow, paying attention to what Anna said and she spoke up. “Your daughter, included? Were there others?”

“What was weird is, they were a mix. A few neighbors from a former residence of mine reported they there were two children who didn’t have magic who disappeared, and another two who do, actually have magic. So... It doesn’t make sense. Are the targets picked really that random?” Anna shook her head. “My gut tells me it isn’t, but I can’t tell where the pattern really lies. I had to give it all up for the sake of living on. My daughter would have wanted that, and so would the rest of the disappeared ones.”

“Sounds to me you make disappearances a moot point to solve.” Hanna said that to criticize Anna.

But Anna wasn’t fazed by it and answered honestly. “Young-un, you really haven’t experienced life as someone with loss. When you find out that repeatedly you can’t do anything right and you’re repeatedly failing, even if you’re trying to find time to succeed and still can’t, you have to eventually realize the toll it brings you if you keep going. I couldn’t keep that going especially as the magic power enduring in our bodies decreases over time. That’s how I knew that I didn’t have enough time. It was simply and logically impossible. I had to break away from my effort and live on. That’s what I decided, and I haven’t regretted it.” Anna looked at Hanna in the eyes. “Listen, young-un. If this is the very same case that happened to your teammate, I doubt there’s a short solution to your problem. But… I could give some findings. They’re very light and they can’t be taken completely seriously by scientists. Still… it aligns with ancient teachings about beings from another universe coming here, and others disappearing to those universes and beyond. The only link to them is… the ways of transport to those worlds. How and why it happened couldn’t be answered in centuries and remains a very elusive topic.”

It was an hour later than a bag full of small books was given to Hanna. Anna explained further. “And you think that a fight would happen between us, eh? But given your circumstances, you remind me of me. I had lack of experience yet I was cocky too. I learned to grow past that and served longer and better.”

“I wanted to ask something.” Hanna said that, wondering about Anna’s magic. “You still maintain some magic in you. Wanna tell me the secret to it?”

“Secret? Heh. There’s no secret to it. You just have to minimize the usage. That’s simply how it is. Plus… the continued usage up to your time of expiry, meaning your age limit, would mean your own magic power would deteriorate without recovery. That happened to a lot of witches who freshly turned 20 because of continued conflicts.” Anna looked away, not smiling at her answer.

And Hanna may not be the best judge of character, but that gesture of emotion Anna showed just meant that there’s more to it. “But?”

“No.” Anna looked at Hanna with a glare. “Don’t start.”

“Why? Because you can’t tell me there’s more? That’s the goddamn decades-long question most of us have. And some of the retired witches argued there are ways to keep it enduring.”

“DO NOT be an idiot, young-un. Even if there was, would the responsibility set in to the witches who can live long with that magic? The first and the second great wars proved that the next generation of witches can’t take that responsibility nor have the mental capacity to handle magic past their prime. It’s better to let the natural course run by itself than-”

“Oh you mean the way YOU let nature run its course on you?” Hanna glared back at Anna. “No. Täuschen. I find that hard to believe. Auf Wiedersehen. Du wirst nicht vermisst werden.” She said her Karlslandian sentence in a mutter before getting the bag and attempting to walk out the door.

But Hanna didn’t expect it herself as she sensed something was thrown from behind her when it appeared she wasn’t looking. She deployed her magic shield to break a flying pot from hitting her from behind. Hanna slowly looked back to Anna, seeing the old woman’s hand shaking and closing her fist while Anna grits her teeth.

Anna then spoke as she glared at Hanna. “You must think you’re smart when you imply something, don’t you?” She spoke in a falsely calm tone when she’s actually furious.

Hanna drops the bag and faces Anna. “I’m not that smart. I just imply on things based on what I know so far.” Hanna deploys her eagle familiar, with ears and tail appearing from her body while showing a magic glow. “Besides. I wanted to be sure. I don’t believe in pure adults. This world really doesn’t have them.”

“It doesn’t mean you should disrespect your elders!” Anna deployed her cat familiar ears and tail and showed a magic glow around her body. “Look… Secrets that most would exploit usually turn up in worse hands. Prolonged magic should only go to a select few… those who are really trusted to hold this world together. Witches like you wouldn’t understand, because you just like to break barriers. BUT THAT IS NOT HOW LIFE WORKS, YOUNG-UN! YOU MAY AS WELL STAND DOWN, AND WALK AWAY.”

Hanna glared and made fists with her hands, refusing to leave. “Keiko would think of me as a disappointment. I don’t know so much, but rumors told me that even if she can’t fight, she still got herself reinstated just to fly, and that’s it. I walk away now, and I might regret facing a veteran. Besides… It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Maybe you’d spill the beans on how magic power can extend. And you and I don’t have to fight. So… I have a counter-offer. YOU stand down and give me what I need.”

“You HAVE what you need, fool. The journals contain all of it.”

“I seem to remember these journals contain notes on what you know about the disappearances of different people. You can’t fool me there.”

“Good enough.” Anna’s utensils from a nearby dining table floated and flew towards Hanna. Seeing Hanna deployed her shield and jumping and evading the others, Anna then had her brooms hover and charge to whack the young witch.

Hanna was blocking and evading the brooms from hitting her. She kicked some brooms away while she ran and charged at Anna. While she prepped a kick and sent it flying after jumping at her opponent, her kick was blocked in mid-air with a magic shield from Anna. “I’m not dropping it!”

“You’re wasting your time.” Anna said this simply before she made a fist with her hand before pulling back and punching mid-air towards Hanna. Hanna wasn’t hit physically by it, but in an amplified magic response to the stomach. Hanna was sent flying out through the door.

And as Hanna hits and rolls on the soil, her familiar receded back into her body. She groaned in pain, clutching her stomach and imagine that hit was a really mean one. She saw Anna Ferrara bring the bag outside and threw it to Hanna, making it land near the young witch. As Hanna saw the old woman snort and walk back into her home, Hanna lowered her face and spoke. “Why?” She spoke with a word and got Anna’s attention. “Why hide the truth to how to prolong a witch’s power when it can be used for good? My former CO served well as a witch and I know that I can’t get her full powers back soon. Still… If I had some way of helping witch veterans at least bring humanity into a better light with their returning magic, it could give them a chance to do so much more than just serving in the army. Yeah. Witches are drafted into the military, but that doesn’t mean their talents stop there. I don’t believe the Neuroi would completely get obliterated after Berlin’s taken back… not with the losses we’ve incurred long before we snapped out of it and fought back.”

Anna sensed Hanna was groaning and forcing herself to stand up. Turning to see Hanna already on her two feet, she sees a witch not willing to easily stay down. This made Anna sigh and shake her head. “Too many right points outweigh the ones needed to conserve its benefits against evil. I don’t believe there will be complete benefit to witches regaining their powers in full. But in order to keep even man in check, we must have some sort of backup against technological treachery. You know… I heard that the 501st was forcefully disbanded when their mandate was Gallia thanks to some weapon the Britannians have made. Wouldn’t you know that even that same weapon with a Neuroi core, spun out of control, and actually became a Neuroi tyrant itself. Technology like that, using a core to directly power a piece of machine is dangerous at best. There would have been hope if magic was used more, but they didn’t bother. I guess… the checks and balances have to matter too…”

Hanna then looked at Anna closely. The old woman was concentrating, meaning there was magic usage. And as Hanna noticed, another floating booklet was being brought out and Hanna took it with her hand once it was in range. Hanna looked at this booklet and she winced at this. “Is this… some notes you have about magic power and magic pressure recovery?”

Anna nods while her familiar recedes back into her. “It’s not just the recovery, young-un. It also talks about magic amplification and endurance past the witch’s prime… theories that were never proven and were lost to modern scientists and magic specialists.”

“I…” Hanna tried to speak straight but the booklet she was given was so important that she had to look at Anna in the eyes to even mean what she needs to express. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Well don’t. Because if that starts to be studied more, some people won’t be happy about what I did. Just make sure that knowledge really goes into the right hands. Sakamoto herself would jump at the chance to serve as a witch again if she recovers completely and regains her magic power. And I know her personality too well. What I’ve written there isn’t a complete solution to the magic power crisis, but a hardline answer that involves magic amplification for witch veterans. It only serves as one of the methods to prolong witch veterans’ magic. Take care of it and give it to the people who need it most for research.” Anna sighed to herself as she was done explaining what Marseille needed to do. “So… It’s about time, I see. While I loved my family here… I can’t endanger them. Get out of here, young-un. I have to start packing and move on.”

Hanna put the booklet in the bag before she slung it on her shoulder. “Most witches must have loved you for what you’ve shared. There’s no way they’d be able to possibly repay you in full.”

Anna chuckled. “That’s how a witch usually operates. Now I have a car that was given to me, but it’s useless. I can’t even drive. It’s over there in that barn.” She threw a set of car keys to Hanna and the younger witch caught it. “What you’re doing is good. Protect your friends and family as best you can. That’s all this world needs to understand more than just war.” Anna saw Hanna nod and the old woman continued into the house, slamming the door shut planning never to see Hanna again.

Hanna looked at her hand with the car keys Anna gave her. Sighing to herself, she looks for the car and eventually drives it out, crossing the bridge out of the island.

It was about an hour later that she was able to arrive at that airbase in Romagna that she was originally going to land in that she was able to offload every booklet she retrieved from Anna Ferrara. She was in her quarters with Raisa. They looked together into the contents of the booklets, and most aren’t just journals. There are theoretical practice notes in these booklets as well. It wasn’t just shown to the international community out of being exploited.

Raisa sighed at the kinds of advantages and cons there would be if all of this would be given to intense research. “It’ll take a long time for all of these to get processed and researched. The war would have already been over by the time it’s done. Strange phenomenons, magic portals… This is a research jackpot… No… Actual intelligence that could bring back our lost people… including Jepsen herself.” Then Raisa looked at Hanna, looking at a photo the ace held. “What’s that?”

Hanna showed the photo, an old one, to Raisa. “Anna Ferrara was once part of the Venezian Air Force before the first great war started. She had the time of her life, I guess.”

“I see.” Raisa said that and continued to look at the booklets but wondered about something. “So we’re really on our way… first steps to finding Vina… Are these it?”

Hanna lied on the bed to relax herself, but she had her hand on her jacket and felt the hardness of another booklet in one of her pockets. “Yeah, that’s all of it,” she replied to Raisa.

A few days later, Ursula Hartmann herself had arrived on the airbase one night. Marseille was there to give the bag of booklets to one of the soldiers Ursula had assigned with her. And when the bag was given, Hanna waited until the soldier was gone, before bringing out the last booklet from her pocket in that same jacket. “I need you to look into this. No one else needs to know.”

“Personally?” Ursula asked this, adjusting her glasses while she smirked. “Something you’re not telling me?”

“Well… In a shorter version of it, that may contain important intelligence about the magic power of witch veterans, and how it can be fully restored. It’s a long shot, but it’s something that should go to background research. The rest go to intense research. Jepsen’s our priority.”

Ursula was reading the contents of the booklet and turned pages, widening her eyes in surprise, before closing the booklet hard and glared at Hanna. “Hanna, do you actually know what you’re doing?! This could actually save incoming veterans from ever running out of magic!”

“Ursula… Please. The war is almost over. But even if it is going in our favor, I know we need to make sure the witch veterans could be saved with that. But it’s not needed during the war. Okay? Give it time. Rushing it is going make the noses of witch veterans really bleed in excitement if I look at it that way.”

Ursula ignored Hanna’s pun. “You’re just saying that so stop Sakamoto from going berserk, are you? And you two are not even in the same unit.”

“She’s a perfect example for any veteran who suffers magic loss.” Hanna groaned. “Don’t ask me how. It’s just your sister talking about it with all the gossip from back then.”

“Oh.” Ursula looked away. Erica sometimes gets carried away in conversation.

“Anyway… if you’re leaving, make sure to send Keiko my regards when you meet her.” Hanna walks away and waves Ursula goodbye.

Then Ursula tilted her head in curiosity. “What other things have you got planned?”

“You must be rude if you’re so nosy.” Hanna looked back and smirked at Ursula before looking forward and away.

Meanwhile, the Neuroi, hidden under the surface have begun to scan the true properties of the Earth. As magic begins to be the key to winning against them, only magic would actually be the hopes to even defend the Neuroi. There were reasons why they’ve been improving. The Neuroi don’t just take the form of different designs after consuming resources. They also partly take power from the Earth’s magic. And now, the Neuroi have begun to research in other means to outsmart the witches. And they’ve recently begun to speed up research on one aspect of warfare: Instantaneous transportation, or teleportation. But… related research began to pop up as well and they’ve also been put in the queue: Transportation to different worlds in different realities.


End file.
